


press play

by orphan_account



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, OT12 - Freeform, Oneshot, Reincarnation, basically kyungsoo/maknae line, confusing time stuff, idk what you want me to say, kaisoo is not endgame, kidnapping kind of, many things are left unresolved, occasional lame attempts at humor, sehun is a lil evil, shooting and guns, so many cliches packed in here im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-27 19:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10043384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What if you could rewind time? What if you could go back to the time it all went wrong and fix it?





	

**Author's Note:**

> i just really missed ot12, and kyungsoo and tao, ok don't judge me

•[1]Start.

Kyungsoo slides his legs under the blankets and reaches over to turn off the lights. It’s winter and the rain drips consistently against the window glass. Inside it’s warm and cozy and Kyungsoo snuggles into the fuzzy duvet. The faint glow of the moon reaches its icy fingers through the windows. He closes his eyes and almost instantly drifts off into sleep.

 

►►[2]Fast-forward.

There is a whirl of crazy colors and movements.

His life is pretty steadily-paced and predictable. Nothing too important can possibly happen in just two days.

 

▌▌[3]Pause.

Everything is still. Kyungsoo sitting shotgun in an unfamiliar car, features frozen in anger, in the middle of yelling something.

Outside, the waves are unmoving, the sun rays stuck reflecting the same spot. The leaves in the palm trees are left mid-movement.

Kyungsoo sees it all, including his future self, who’s pointing a gun straight at the driver’s face, knuckles white. The driver’s face is expressionless, to the point of looking absolutely bored. His white-blond hair is half-covering his eye, guided by the frozen breeze coming from the rolled down window. He's holding onto the steering wheel lightly with one hand, while his other hand is resting on the stick shifter.

Kyungsoo can feel the leather of the seat against his thighs, the texture of his hair mid-whip on his cheek. Balmy air touching his shoulders, his neck, his arms, his face.

They’re in the middle of speeding down an empty highway, definitely not anywhere close to Seoul anymore.

This is not the situation Kyungsoo expected to find himself in forty-eight hours later. This doesn’t look right.

 

◄◄[4]Rewind.

Everything trips backward, colors swallowing into themselves, movements awkwardly jerking to the beginning. Apparently a lot of things can change in just two days.

 

►[5]Play_Scene1

There’s a muffled crash and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open. It’s still dark outside, but one pained glance at the glowing screen of his phone confirms that it’s already 6:45AM. His alarm is supposed to go off in fifteen more minutes and even though it’s barely anything, he still wants to spend as much as he can in dreamland before he has to get up.

Another sudden noise comes from the back of his apartment and Kyungsoo is no longer sleepy as adrenaline jumps into his veins. He slips out of bed in one fluid motion and grabs the closest thing to use as a weapon, which, unfortunately, turns out to be his custom-made acoustic guitar.

Kyungsoo sneaks out of the bedroom and creeps down the hall to the kitchen, clutching at the neck of his makeshift guitar weapon. He stops dead in his tracks, holding his breath, as he hears another sound of something heavy dropping on the kitchen floor and a muttered f-bomb.

Then there is silence.

His heart feels like it’ll jump out of his throat any minute now and his knees quiver, but he decides to continue on. His toe stubs on the corner of the wall and he stumbles back, biting his lip at the sharp pain. (Screw sharp wall corners. Why couldn’t they be smoothly curved? It would even help the interior design.)

Kyungsoo knows he takes too many steps back when he hears a terrifying screeching sound that puts the ends of the hair on his neck standing. That sends him into a fall on his butt with a thud and a muffled scream, guitar falling out of his grip and banging against the wall.

 _Damn it_ , he thinks. If Monggu, his dog, was here, he would have known someone broke into his house a lot sooner instead of stepping on dog toys and potentially making the situation worse.

He lay still on his back, thinking that he’s finally done for. That thief, or serial murderer, or rapist, or an escaped convict, or whoever it is, is going to find Kyungsoo, stab him with one of his own prized butcher knives, throw him into one of his own black garbage bags, and throw him out of the window of his own 5th story apartment while he still hadn’t had the chance to change out of his embarrassing duck pajamas and brush his teeth.

Strangely enough, he doesn’t hear footsteps, and the whole apartment is eerily quiet. Kyungsoo almost makes himself believe that all the noise he heard was a part of his overactive imagination. Before he can start feeling silly, the light in the living room comes on, illuminating a tall silhouette. Kyungsoo can’t see the face of the intruder partly because the light is coming from behind him and partly because Kyungsoo is suddenly busy choking on his spit from the surprise.

“Where the hell did you hide the paper bag?” says the silhouette in a low voice.

Kyungsoo is still choking so he doesn’t even try to answer.

He hears the man sigh and suddenly Kyungsoo is lifted to his feet. His back gets harshly slapped a few times, and then he’s left staring up at the thief/serial murderer/rapist/escaped convict. His cold dark eyes send a shiver through Kyungsoo’s body and he just _knows_ today is his last day alive. _Goodbye, Earth_ , he thinks. _It was nice living here in the midst of all the pollution and global warming._

His body gets shoved into the kitchen and the thief/serial murderer/rapist/escaped convict is pointing to the place where his microwave used to stand. Now it’s left shattered on the laminated floor. The whole kitchen is in a similar state and Kyungsoo pushes back a spark of anger. He hates people messing with his kitchen.

“He said he left it somewhere behind the microwave,” the thief/serial killer/rapist/escaped convict prompts.

His hair seems to glow white in the semi darkness and his expression is mostly blank with a hint of impatience. It’s quite the intimidating combination. But then Kyungsoo’s brand new waffle maker is lying broken on the floor. _His precious baby_. Kyungsoo had so many plans for it, and this idiot just ruined them all.

“I literally have no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” Kyungsoo enunciates slowly, fists clenching in anger.

“I’m talking about the paper bag that was supposed to be hidden behind the microwave,” the man enunciates just as slowly. _Is he mocking me?_ Kyungsoo thinks.

"Ah, the paper bag!" he exclaims in fake recognition, because he has no idea how to deal with this situation. He hadn’t watched CSI in three years.

"Yes, the paper bag."

"The paper bag!"

"And where is that paper bag?"

"In a place... where... all paper bags are kept?"

"Where. Is. The paper bag." His voice has a steely undertone to it that makes Kyungsoo want to jump out the window.

"What type of a paper bag was it?" he asks meekly.

The man stares at him for a while and Kyungsoo is starting to feel extremely uncomfortable. _If he’s gonna kill me, he should hurry up_ , he thinks. Kyungsoo doesn’t like long awkward silences.

“Do you really not know what I’m talking about or are you trying to protect your boyfriend?” The man says eventually. “Because if it’s the latter, you’re actually making it worse.”

At the mention of his boyfriend, Kyungsoo’s heart leaps into his throat. “What does this have to do with Kai? How do you know him?”

“I’ve know _Kai_ far longer than you have. Your boyfriend’s real name is Jongin and he’s a drug smuggler.” His eyes widen mockingly. “Surprise.”

“Well, that sounds like a lie.” Kyungsoo’s voice breaks at the last word. He knows he shouldn’t believe anything this random stranger who broke into his house says, but all of a sudden he is very scared. Even more scared than when he thought he was about to be murdered.

“Really? Then why would he hide a paper bag with a stolen drug formula behind your microwave?”

“There is nothing behind my microwave, as you can see.” Kyungsoo gestures to the mess pointedly.

“That’s because he probably took it and ran. Where is he now?”

Kyungsoo swallows. “How would I know?”

“Because he would probably tell his boyfriend of two years where he went on vacation.”

He did, but there is no way that Kyungsoo is telling that to some suspicious guy who broke into his house and destroyed his waffle maker.

“Alright, then,” the serial killer/con artist says after taking one look at his expression. “You’re coming with me.”

He says that last sentence exactly at 7AM because that’s when Kyungsoo’s alarm clock starts loudly screeching from the bedroom.

They stand in the middle of the raided kitchen, staring at each other in the gray morning light as the alarm clock beeps its little speakers out.

"Put on some decent clothes and let's go," the guy says after the alarm clock finally stops. "We're off to find your boyfriend."

"No? I actually have a life? And I need to get ready for work?" Kyungsoo protests in indignation as the guy starts pushing him back to the bedroom. "This is a violation of my rights as a Korean citizen! I’m calling the police!”

"Do you want me to start putting clothes on you myself?" the guy asks in that flat bored voice of his. Kyungsoo shakes his head. "Good. Be ready in ten minutes."

With that he shoves Kyungsoo into the room and shuts the door, leaving him alone.

 

►[6]Play_Scene2

Kyungsoo stumbles to his closet, sliding it open and staring at the neatly folded and color-coded shelves of clothes. He dropped Kai off at the airport yesterday morning where he said he was going on some charity campaign for a project at work. Some obscure African country with a lot of vowels. It was all very last minute and Kyungsoo guesses he should have been suspicious, but with the level of trust they have, it was impossible. Kai hasn’t called yet and Kyungsoo can’t call him either because apparently there’s no mobile service there.

But now this thief/serial killer/not-really-rapist/escaped convict/possible con artist shows up out of nowhere and tells Kyungsoo that Kai’s real name is not even Kai. Kyungsoo can easily not believe a word he says, but then, just a few days before Kai left to Africa, he kept on constantly loitering around the microwave to the point where he would even eat his dinner there. Kyungsoo found it a bit odd, but didn't think much of it. Until now.

Kyungsoo’s train of thought gets scattered by a loud knock on the door and a gruff "hurry up, we don't have all day."

Running is not really an option, unfortunately, because Kyungsoo doesn't know how to scale walls nor does he own a parachute. He changes quickly.

He comes out of his room and the thief/serial killer/escaped convict/con artist (Kyungsoo really needs a shorter nickname for him) grabs his hand and drags him out of the condo building into a peeling red pickup truck that looks like it's slowly falling apart. He starts the engine and Kyungsoo doesn't protest because he knows it’s useless at this point.

Poker Face (fits him perfectly) doesn't speak and Kyungsoo tries to keep his mouth shut as well, because he knows if he starts yelling, he might really get himself killed.

After half an hour through early morning traffic, they park outside a rundown apartment complex. Kyungsoo blinks a few times and Poker Face gets out of the car, gesturing for Kyungsoo to follow him.

The air is cold from last night's rain and Kyungsoo shivers in his thin sweater. Poker Face takes his wrist and drags him up the stairs to the second floor, stopping when they reach apartment number 26. He opens the door and pulls Kyungsoo inside together with him.

All the blinds inside are pulled down so it takes Kyungsoo a few seconds to adjust to the dimness. The living room is tiny and almost empty, sporting only a black leather couch and a polished wooden table. Poker Face leads Kyungsoo into the kitchen/dining area that's even smaller and emptier, save for an oak dining table with a few mismatched chairs around it. One of those chairs is occupied.

"That doesn’t look like Jongin," the occupant of the chair speaks.

Kyungsoo can't really make out his features because of the lack of light and the clouding smoke coming from his cigarette. He gags a little at the smell.

"It’s his boyfriend. He knows where Jongin is," Poker Face says. "Spit out that cigarette, Tao, you don't even smoke."

Kyungsoo looks up at Poker Face. "I told you I don’t know where he is.”

"That doesn’t sound very convincing," the smoking man says and gets up from his chair. Kyungsoo can see him more clearly now and his pulse speeds up double time. If he thought Poker Face was scary, then this dude is downright menacing. The dark lighting doesn't help much either. Black bangs hanging low over his eyes, like raven feathers, and ears pierced with so much metal that there's barely any skin peeking between. His slightly feline eyes glimmer like they contain liquid stardust and the dark circles under add on a certain danger. There's a cigarette hanging out of his scowling mouth. That cigarette gets snatched by Poker Face's long pale fingers and thrown into the trash.

"You're going to start choking again, Tao. Stop smoking."

"But it makes me look cool,” the scary emo guy whines. Somehow that makes him even more scary.

"You already look cool enough." Poker Face turns to Kyungsoo. "Now, the faster you tell us where Jongin is, that faster this will all be over."

“What does ‘over’ mean?” Kyungsoo asks, avoiding Scary Emo Guy’s gaze. Something about him really freaks Kyungsoo out. “‘Over’ as in dead ‘over’?”

“You’re not important enough to kill,” Poker Face deadpans.

That is one of the most pleasant insults Kyungsoo had ever gotten. “Then why do you think I would actually tell you where he is?”

"Because, you see," the scary emo Tao guy moves closer to Kyungsoo, who shrinks back from his intense stare. "The longer you drag this out, the bigger the chance that your _boyfriend_ will die.”

Kyungsoo bites his lip, sudden blurriness springing up in his vision. Poker Face pulls him out of Kyungsoo’s face.

“Stop scaring him, Tao, he won’t be able to say anything in this state.”

Kyungsoo has to take a few minutes to collect himself while they stare at him. “What do you mean, he’ll die?” he whispers.

“Exactly that,” Tao says, grinning. “ _Bang_. No more Jongin.”

“You’re going to kill him?” This was all getting too serious to be real. It had to be some kind of elaborate prank. “That means I definitely shouldn’t tell you where he is.”

“We’re not murderers,” Poker Face says.

Kyungsoo squints at him suspiciously, after blinking back the tears. “That sounds like something a murderer would say.”

“Just tell us where he went, damn it!” Tao slams his fist on the table, making Kyungsoo jump.

“I’m not going to tell you where he is if you’re just going to kill him,” Kyungsoo yells back hysterically.

Poker Face sighs in annoyance. “We’re not going to kill him. We just need to find out where he hid the paper bag.”

“Are you sure?”

“Just spill it already,” Tao growls, looking on the verge of punching something.

Kyungsoo takes in a shaky breath. “Okay… okay. He said he was going to Africa. I’m not sure where exactly. Some kind of humanitarian mission.”

Tao’s eyebrows shoot up. “ _Humanitarian_ _mission._ ”

Poker Face sits down on one of the chairs and puts his feet up on the table. “Time to call Joonmyun to get his private jet ready.”

“I think it’s already ready,” Tao commented. “I told him Jongin probably left the country by now.”

Kyungsoo starts slowly inching toward the door, hoping to sneak away unnoticed while they’re not paying attention. Unfortunately, his genius plan gets foiled by Poker Face, who trains his steel expressionless eyes on Kyungsoo and the latter freezes.

“Just go call him to make sure,” he says to Tao, still keeping eye contact with Kyungsoo.

Then he walks over, grabs Kyungsoo’s wrist and drags him to the couch in the living room. “And you’re not going anywhere.”

He pushes Kyungsoo down and sits next to him, death grip on his wrist not lessening. Tao leaves the apartment and everything is silent. Kyungsoo glances over at Poker Face, who leans his head back and closes his eyes. The conversation he’d just had with Scary Emo Guy catches up to Kyungsoo and he whirls to face Poker Face.

“Wait, does that mean you’re flying to Africa to find him? Like right now?”

Kyungsoo pokes him in the side while he remains motionless. It almost makes him think Poker Face is asleep, except nobody can fall asleep in such a short amount of time. “I’m coming with you.”

He opens his eyes at that. “Really, now.”

“I do not trust you to not kill him. And I want to see for myself if he’s what you’re saying he is.”

“Don’t you have a job?”

“There is such a thing as sick days.”

He shrugs. “I guess you’ll make pretty good blackmail material.”

Kyungsoo ignores the connotations of that statement as his stomach writhes in worry for more than just one reason.

“Um. Can I call my work office? You know, to let them know I’m taking a sick day? I kind of really like my job and I don’t want to get fired.”

Poker Face sighs again. “Trust me, you don’t need to do that.”

“Trust me, I do.” Kyungsoo huffs in annoyance. “I work for _K! Magazine_ , it’s a pretty big deal.”

“I know. That’s exactly why you don’t need to worry about it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Do you really think I can trust you after you literally kidnapped me?”

“Kyungsoo-ssi.” Kyungsoo’s eyes widen at the fact that Poker Face knows his name. “Shut up.”

Kyungsoo sighs and leans back on the couch. What’s with all the know-it-all mystery? He hates not knowing what’s going on. And he’s definitely not looking forward to getting fired. He tries peeling Poker Face’s fingers off his wrist. They don’t budge.

"You're going to cut off the blood flow from my hand," he grumbles, giving up.

Poker Face doesn't respond, eyes closed again. It makes Kyungsoo wonder if he can possibly be a robot or something. His cell phone pings with a message. Poker Face checks it and tells Kyungsoo it’s time to go to the airport.

 

The pickup truck starts noisily but Poker Face doesn't speak.

"What's your name?" Kyungsoo decides to ask.

"You don't need to know that."

"But you already know my name. Which is incredibly suspicious, I might add. And I can't keep on calling you Poker Face for three days, or however long."

He lifts an eyebrow, eyes still focused on the road. "Poker Face?"

"That's because your face is as emotive as a brick. And I don't have your name. Seriously, though, did you get botox injections to freeze your face muscles or something?"

"It's Sehun."

"Sehun?"

"My name. Oh Sehun."

Kyungsoo squints. "Are you sure you're not just giving me a random fake name?"

"I'm sure. It's my real name. What's so surprising?"

"Sehun doesn't match you at all." Kyungsoo was thinking something more along the lines of Scar or Killer.

“That’s just your own biased opinion.”

Well. Kyungsoo can’t argue with that.

“So,” _Sehun_ prompted. “Where exactly did Jongin say he was going?”

“I don’t remember exactly,” Kyungsoo says as he fidgets in his seat. “It was something like Oomatata or something of the sort.”

“You mean Umtata?” Sehun asks and Kyungsoo shrugs because it all sounds the same to him. “That’s South Africa, then. No wonder.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? What’s in South Africa?”

“Things you’re better off not knowing.”

“That’s cool,” Kyungsoo says with as much sarcasm as he can muster. “What’s your date of birth and social security number?”

Poker Face (it matches him better than Sehun) ignores Kyungsoo for the rest of the ride, so Kyungsoo decides to go over the events of the morning in his head, trying to make sense of it all. Why would Kai (Kyungsoo refuses to call him Jongin, it’s just too weird) lie to him about all of this? Kyungsoo had personally seen his ID and it definitely said Kim Kai on it. They’ve dated for a little over two years already, he’d think that’s plenty of time to let Kyungsoo know he’s a drug smuggler and that his real name is not Kai. Was Kyungsoo dating a con artist this whole time, like in those art heist novels?

But now that Kyungsoo thinks about it, there have been a few incidents when Kai looked like he really wanted to tell him something. At the back of his head, Kyungsoo had always known Kai was hiding something about his past, but he had never wanted to know. It was fair, after all, because Kyungsoo never talked about his past with him either. But an abusive father currently behind bars, a crackhead mother, and a string of foster homes during Kyungsoo's teenage years wasn’t something Kyungsoo had control over, while being a drug smuggler and changing your whole identity is usually a result of bad personal choices. But then, who was Kyungsoo to judge?

Kyungsoo doesn’t hate him for it, not really. Even if he lied, Kai is still Kai, the boy who lent Kyungsoo his umbrella when they were still total strangers, who cried during _Bridge to Terabithia_ and blamed it on allergies.

Of course, there is a big chance that Poker Face and his Scary Emo friend are lying. Speaking of Scary Emo Dude, there’s something really strange about him. Everything about this situation is strange, but it’s a different kind of strange. Kyungsoo feels like he’d seen him somewhere. Maybe he passed him on the street once, or stood behind him in line at a grocery store. It’s a really faint kind of familiarity, but it’s still there. And Kyungsoo really doesn’t like it.

 

►[7]Play_Scene3

At the Incheon airport, they go through security pretty quickly and no one even asks for Kyungsoo’s, or Sehun’s, passport or identification, which is extremely odd.

They board some sort of private jet, and Tao is already there, reclining in one of the luxurious leather seats. There is another man sitting in the seat next to him. Slicked-back hair, neatly pressed suit, and those standard average handsome features, like a Ken doll.

He looks up when they come in and his lips curl up in that nice boy-next-door smile. Kyungsoo finds himself smiling back despite the situation and Ken doll motions for him to sit down on the opposite seat. Kyungsoo takes the offered spot, and Poker Face unceremoniously drops down on the seat next to him.

"Hello, I'm Joonmyun," the nice man says. "And you are?"

"Hello, Joonmyun-ssi, I’m Kyungsoo," Kyungsoo replies, just as pleasantly, because he’s a complete sucker for good manners.

"Ah, nice to meet you, Kyungsoo-ssi." Joonmyun leans forward a little and looks at Kyungsoo sincerely. "Thank you for helping us look for Jongin."

Kyungsoo nods mutely, not sure how such a nice person got tangled in this mess and what his role is.

"By the way," Kyungsoo starts as the plane prepares for take off. "Why didn't the people at the gate check my passport? They just let us through after we went past the metal detector, even though we’re leaving the country."

"Because this private jet belongs to Kim Joonmyun," Tao speaks up helpfully. "Or, K Enterprises, more precisely. They own like half of South Korea so he can basically do whatever he wants and no one will stop him. Which is really just a wasted privilege since Joonmyun here would never actually break a law in his life. Unlike his father."

Joonmyun coughs awkwardly, cheeks lightly pinking. Kyungsoo stares at him in awe. Something about his name bugs Kyungsoo, though, like he’d heard it before. He wouldn’t be surprised since Joonmyun is so rich. Kyungsoo is sure he’d seen him on the news or something.

“Wait, never mind,” Tao suddenly corrects himself. “He only breaks the law for Yi Fan.”

At that, Joonmyun turns to him sharply and hisses, "I told you not to mention him in my presence."

Tao rolls his eyes. "Get over it, Joonmyun. It's been a whole month since he ditched you and moved to Canada, even dragging Lu Han with him."

"I _just_ said not to talk about him in front of me," Joonmyun replies with a quiver of hurt in his voice.

Kyungsoo is not sure if there's actual tears glistening in Joonmyun’s eyes or if that's just the lighting. Nevertheless, the awkwardness makes him shift in his seat uncomfortably and look over at Poker Face. Sehun’s eyes are closed but his foot instantly shoots out to kick Tao in the shin.

"Sorry," Tao mumbles to Joonmyun, shooting daggers with his eyes at Poker Face.

The jet finally takes off. For the next half an hour Poker Face and Tao subtly try to kick each other as hard as possible without making any noise. Joonmyun catches them once and scolds them. They go right back to it once he turns around, though.

Somehow they end up laughing and Kyungsoo almost falls out of his seat. Poker Face is _laughing._ His eyes turn into twinkling half moons and his face is scrunched up in childlike joy and he looks _adorable_ and it's a complete 180 degree turn from his previous expression. He turns to Kyungsoo mid-laugh because he can probably feel the holes Kyungsoo is boring into his skull with his stare.

"What?" he asks, going right back to being Poker Face.

Kyungsoo points at him, still in mild shock. "You're human."

"What did you think I was? A robot?"

"I was seriously considering it."

"See?" Joonmyun pipes in. "You should really relax more often. Or people will think you don't have feelings."

"But I'm always relaxed.” There’s a hint of indignation in Sehun’s voice. “I can't help it if the natural state of my face makes me look soulless."

After that incident, Kyungsoo drifts in and out of sleep, clutching to the fuzzy blanket that somehow ended up on top of him. He assumes it's most likely Joonmyun's doing although he doesn't say anything. The man is too good for this world.

About 20 hours pass like that, and Kyungsoo is extremely tired of sleeping and trying to ignore the growing uneasiness in his stomach by the end. The jet eventually lands at a small airport and there's already a sleek black car waiting for them outside.

The air is humid and Kyungsoo starts to sweat in his sweater. He can't take it off, though, because he has nothing underneath. They all pile into the back of the car (except for Sehun, who gets shotgun) and Kyungsoo has to squirm in between Tao (who keeps on looking over at Kyungsoo as if he's expecting him to bolt any second), and Joonmyun, who is furiously scrolling through his phone. Kyungsoo can't help but notice that he has 56 missed calls and over a hundred unread text messages.

Joonmyun’s phone starts ringing all of a sudden and he almost drops it from his shaking hands.

Sehun glances over at the caller ID, twisting in his seat, and immediately snatches the phone.

"What are you doing?!" Joonmyun screams hysterically, startling Kyungsoo.

"It's Yi Fan hyung," he replies with that deadpan expression, as if that should explain everything. "I'm putting him on speaker."

Joonmyun flails his hands in protest, and Kyungsoo has to lean back so he doesn’t accidentally get hit in the face. Then everything goes quiet as a crackling voice comes from the receiver.

"Hello? Joonmyun, is that you? Why the hell did it take you so long to pick up? I was about to get on the next plane to Seoul to check if you were still alive."

Everything is silent in the car, apart from Joonmyun's heavy breathing.

"Babe? Is everything okay?" this Yi Fan asks after the pause lasts for too long.

Joonmyun takes another deep breath and clears his throat. "Why are you calling me?" he asks in a rather harsh tone that seems to surprise all three of them.

"I just heard what happened with Jongin. Did you guys find him yet? Is everything okay?" Yi Fan sounds awfully worried and Kyungsoo gets a completely unreasonable pang of jealousy. He seems like he knows Jongin better than Kyungsoo does.

"Why would you care?” Joonmyun spits. “You're not a part of this anymore."

There is a long sigh on the other end. "Joonmyun... don't be like this. I'm just worried."

"Well if you were going to be so worried then you shouldn't have left, Yi Fan!"

"Are you trying to say that because I'm gone, I can't worry about my friends?"

"Friends? _Friends?_ Yi Fan, you started all of this and then you left us all to fend for ourselves. It’s not just about checking up on your _friends_ anymore.”

“I didn’t _start_ anything, Joonmyun, I just made you realize that you need to get some balls and do what you have to do. It doesn’t change the fact that I still care about all of you.”

“You took Lu Han. How could you, after--”

“What was I supposed to do, then? What was I supposed to do when I had no choice?" Yi Fan is screaming just as loud as Joonmyun now, and it’s starting to sound ugly. "You father didn't give me a choice--"

"No choice? You had a choice, Yi Fan! You always had a choice! This is _not_ about my father--"

"--are you _fucking--_ "

"--but you just decided to _run away_ without even _saying_ anything! How do you think I feel right now?"

"Yes, I left! I know! And I'm sorry, okay?"

"Sorry?! You think ‘sorry’ is going to cut it this time--?"

"--this time? What are you talking abou--"

"--you know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"No, I don't! I don't actually know what the hell you're talking about, damn it!"

"You never listen! You just always do everything your own without telling me--"

"Oh! Oh, I never listen, Joonmyun?"

"Yes! You--"

"--you're always like this! You always tell me I don't--"

"--that's because you don't, babe."

“Don’t call me babe!”

Sehun turns off the speaker and brings the phone up to his ear before someone pops a vein or an eardrum. "Hi, hyung, this is Sehun. I'm sorry, I'm going to hang up this call before either of you hurt yourselves, okay? And we're on our way to find Jongin so everything is fine. Just get some sleep and rest… Good night."

He hands the phone back to Joonmyun, whose face is still red and there are definitely tears in his eyes this time. Tao pats him on the back awkwardly.

"It's okay, man. We’ll figure this out and everything will be fine."

That sounds entirely unconvincing and Joonmyun turns away, hiding his face in the car door.

"Why does he always do this to me?" he half-mumbles, half-sobs.

Unsure of how to deal with this, Kyungsoo tries to stroke his back soothingly, hoping it'll calm him down. Eventually Joonmyun relaxes and sits up, wiping his face with the back of his now-rumpled suit sleeve.

"I'm very sorry about this, Kyungsoo-ssi," he says, still sniffling a bit. "I'm sure you didn't want to witness that whole ordeal."

Kyungsoo mumbles a noncommittal response because he’s still not really sure how to respond. If he’s being honest, he’s expecting some kind of explanation. Even just a simple “that was Joonmyun’s ex-boyfriend/husband/lover/partner-in-crime/secretary/best friend. He left him because of reasons and now they hate each other and cannot have a proper conversation without yelling” would do perfectly fine. But no one is really looking at each other and the car comes to a stop in front of what seems like a high class hotel with palm trees all around and a small fountain in the middle.

Because of all the dramatic yelling in the car, Kyungsoo wasn't able to focus on the scenery, so he looks around now. Everything is bright and sunny and humid and green with palm trees. They all get out of the stuffy car and follow Joonmyun to the entrance of the hotel. No one really speaks. Joonmyun takes a key from the front desk and they take the elevator to the third floor. The suite is awfully luxurious with an amazing view, gilded furniture, and too many overflowing fruit bowls, but Kyungsoo is not expecting anything less from a billionaire.

Joonmyun sits down in an armchair at the far corner of the room and picks up the cordless phone. He speaks into the receiver in a low voice while Tao collapses on the long divan and Sehun sits down on another armchair. Kyungsoo just stands there awkwardly in the middle of the room, not even sure what they’re doing in a nice hotel suite when they should be looking for Jongin.

Kyungsoo can feel Tao staring holes through him but he tries to ignore it. Finally, Joonmyun hangs up and stands.

"I just talked to a few people and Jongin was seen here a few days ago but he left for Port Elizabeth yesterday."

“Shit, why is he at Port Elizabeth?” Poker Face asks.

Joonmyun gives him a lost-and-scared puppy look. “Let’s hope it’s just because he wanted to take a road trip?”

Kyungsoo is definitely missing something here.

“What’s at Port Elizabeth?” he asks, but gets ignored as a knock comes at the door.

The door opens before anyone can get up, and two men in suits walk inside. One of them is smiling nervously, dimple showing in one cheek. The other one looks absolutely emotionless, another Poker Face.

Joonmyun looks relieved to see them, getting up from the armchair and gesturing for them to come in.

“We tried to get here as soon as we found out you were flying over,” the dimpled suit guy explains. Kyungsoo catches an outline of a gun when his suit jacket shifts.

“Good. Have you contacted M’s men?” Joonmyun asks and at this point Kyungsoo is so confused he forgets to be scared.

The guy nods. “I sent everything to Baekhyun. We’re posted to protect you from now on.”

“Thank you, Yixing.”

Poker Face 2.0 is glancing at Kyungsoo out of the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo can feel the suspicion rolling off him in waves.

Joonmyun notices it, too. “Minseok, relax,” he says, going back to his armchair. “He’s going to help us find Jongin.”

Minseok doesn’t look like he thinks that’s enough to let his suspicions go, but Kyungsoo want to tell him that he doesn’t trust them either.

There is another knock at the door, and Tao jumps off the divan to open it before anyone can say anything. He ushers the newcomer in, taking a big black box from him.

Joonmyun's eyes widen a bit at the person’s presence. "Baekhyun, what are you doing here?"

“I, I was just--” the guy stutters.

“I called him ahead of time and told him to fly here because you’ll be coming,” Tao interrupted.

He walks back to the divan, not shielding Kyungsoo’s view anymore. Kyungsoo gasps.

“Byun Baekhyun-sshi?!”

Baekhyun looks over at Kyungsoo and freezes in place. No one really looks surprised, not even Baekhyun, who just looks _guilty,_ of all things.

“Who’s running everything back at the magazine, then?” Joonmyun asks.

“I left Kim Jongdae in charge instead. Tao said it was something urgent.”

The door bursts open once again and a tall man with gangly limbs and a rumpled suit walks in, trying to catch his breath. Kyungsoo’s eyes are about ready to pop out of their sockets at this point.

“Baek, how many times--” Park Chanyeol then notices everyone else in the room. “Oh, hello Kim Joonmyun. How are you? Great? Well you see, I’m not so great. You drag off my boyfr-- your secretary off to the other side of the world with just a moment’s notice and he has to drop everything he’s doing, no matter how important it is, and you don’t even pay for his ticket! Do you know how expensive last minute tickets are? Do you? We’re not all millionaires, you know.”

Baekhyun whirls on the man, his eyes narrowing. “Park Chanyeol-ssi, I will personally slit your throat if you continue sticking your nose into other people’s business,” he hisses.

“But this is my business,” Chanyeol harshly whispers back. “Stop pretending to be so ridiculously professional in front of other people all the time.”

Baekhyun turns back to Joonmyun with a tight smile plastered on his face. “Please excuse us for a second, we’ll be right back.”

He then grabs Park Chanyeol by his a-little-larger-than-normal ears and drags the whining-in-pain man out of the room, shutting the door with a bang. For a moment there’s a silent pause.

“You didn’t even pay for his ticket, Tao?” Joonmyun asks outrageously.

“I didn’t have your credit card with me at the time,” Tao shrugs.

Kyungsoo tunes them out, slowly sitting down at one of the chairs. Kim Joonmyun. The owner of _K! Magazine_ . _That_ Kim Joonmyun. Makes perfect sense. And Baekhyun is here, Byun Baekhyun, the editor-in-chief’s assistant who basically runs the whole magazine behind the scenes. Park Chanyeol is the main graphic designer/photographer for the magazine and he’s been dating Baekhyun for the past year, but they keep pretending they’re not, even though _everyone_ at the office knows. And now they're all here, in South Africa, so very obviously involved in something suspicious.

What the _hell_ is going on?

The door finally opens again. Baekhyun comes in with a smug expression on his face, fixing his, what Kyungsoo hopes is, artfully messed up hair. Park Chanyeol trails behind, grumbling to himself. His suit is looking more rumpled than before and he looks even more ridiculous than he usually does.

“So what’s going on, hyung?” Baekhyun asks, like nothing happened. “Did you need me for anything?”

“Actually,” Tao begins before Joonmyun can speak. “He called me, saying he had some urgent information about the… operation, but it’s dangerous to talk of these things over the phone so I told him to come here. Also, he brought a change of clothes for Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo gets a little offended by these words, but Park Chanyeol takes it even worse.

“You called him to the other side of the globe just to bring someone a change of clothes and relay some _urgent information_ that you can easily say over a skype call?” he explodes on Joonmyun, but Baekhyun shoots him a look and he shuts his mouth.

“Calm down, everyone, stop yelling,” Joonmyun says, shooting Tao a pointed look, like everything was his fault. “First of all, I did not call Baekhyun here, and the price of the plane ticket will be reimbursed since Tao works for me and I’m responsible for his actions, no matter how stupid. Second of all, since you are here after all, Baekhyun, I think we’ll have to have a meeting. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to clean up Kyungsoo-ssi a bit, either, we owe him that much for snatching him up into a different country without a notice. I will be paying you overtime, Baekhyun.”

Kyungsoo turns slightly and tries to rub off crust from around his eyes, hoping no one would notice. It’s not his fault he looks like a mess since he was practically dragged out against his own will when he just woke up.

“Certainly.” Baekhyun smiles pleasantly. He was the epitome of calm and serenity at all times, which is a cosmic accomplishment given his profession.

Kyungsoo gets locked in a bathroom with a magically appearing change of clothes while everyone else gathers around Joonmyun, discussing God knows what. Kyungsoo can hear Park Chanyeol trying to keep the outrage in his voice to a minimum.

Kyungsoo feels him on a spiritual level. Nothing makes sense and no one is telling him anything useful. It’s like he was dropped into the middle of some novel, right after all the action began, skipping all the exposition. It’s dizzying to say the least.

After Kyungsoo changes, he’s wearing tight black jeans and a black turtleneck. He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and all those spy/thief movies pop into his head. He doesn’t look that much different, but he also looks like he can kick anyone’s ass instead of being the one whose ass would be kicked. It’s a refreshing change.

Everyone glances up as Kyungsoo comes out. Tao bites his lip and turns away while Sehun ignores him. Joonmyun smiles and beckons him over.

“I just ordered some room service so we can all eat really quick and get on to Port Elizabeth.” Kyungsoo’s empty stomach silently thanks him. “Tao suggested you and Sehun go by car, and the rest of us will take the jet. Baekhyun, we’ll discuss the rest in the air.”

“What about me?” Park Chanyeol asks from where he’s hovering around Baekhyun.

Joonmyun purses his lips. “You’ll fly back to Seoul. Don’t worry about Baekhyun, he knows what he’s doing.”

 

►[8]Play_Scene4

Kyungsoo ends up in the hotel garage with Sehun, who takes a key from the uniformed attendant. The keys turn out to belong to a very sleek red sports car with butterfly doors. Kyungsoo tries to make himself comfortable in the black leather seat as Sehun starts the engine.

"Does Kim Joonmyun-ssi own a Ferrari in every country?" Kyungsoo asks, staring out the window at the rapidly passing scenery.

"It's a Pagani, not a Ferrari," Sehun corrects. "And no, he just rented it."

Kyungsoo shakes his head in disbelief. Who knew he’d ever coincidentally meet a millionaire this early in his life? A millionaire who is coincidentally the big boss of the company Kyungsoo works for. No matter how much he thinks about it, things are not making sense. He’s missing _something_. He’s about to start bombarding Sehun with questions he knows won’t be answered, but to Kyungsoo’s surprise Poker Face speaks first.

“How did you first meet Jongin?”

The question takes Kyungsoo aback. “Why does that matter?”

“That’s a question, not an answer.”

His eyes are focused on the road and Kyungsoo sighs.

“Well, it was about three years ago,” he begins after a long pause. “I called for a cab one morning to take me to a job interview and I was waiting outside for it. The cab was running late and it started to rain and I didn’t want to go back to the apartment to get an umbrella in case I missed the cab.” It was silly, how they met, but now looking back at the memories is kind of sad. “Then he came to stand next to me, out of nowhere, and offered me his umbrella. My cab came then and when I arrived at the _K! Magazine_ building, he was getting out of a cab right behind me. I freaked out because I thought he was stalking me.” Kyungsoo laughs a little. “But then I got the job and on my first day I see him again. Turns out he was a marketing director there.”

Kyungsoo looks at his hands and starts to pick at his cuticles to keep the tears at bay. Maybe it’s the stress of the past forty-eight hours or the fact that Kai is not really Kai, that maybe he lied about everything else, too, that he doesn’t really love Kyungsoo, that he never did. And even if Kyungsoo is used to being abandoned and lied to, he still doesn’t take to it too well.

Both of them don’t say anything for a long while and the only audible sound is the engine and Kyungsoo’s uneven breathing. Ignoring is a difficult art and Poker Face has mastered it well. All of Kyungsoo’s anger turns on him because he’s the catalyst of this whole ordeal.

“When are you going to tell me exactly what the hell is going on?” Kyungsoo’s voice is low and contained and Sehun actually looks over at him.

“I won’t be telling you anything,” he replies and shifts his gaze back to the road.

Of course. Kyungsoo scrambles his head for any clues, for _something_. “Are you a part of some drug cartel? Why do you need the drug formula or whatever that Ka-- Jongin has? Why are you all so desperate to get him?”

“That doesn’t concern you in any way.”

“Excuse you? Yes it does! I’m on the other side of the globe without a _passport_ , helping you look for my _boyfriend_ when I don’t even know what’s going on.”

“Ok, let me put it this way. It doesn’t concern you if you want to stay alive.”

“Is that a threat?” Kyungsoo’s hands clutch into fists, nails digging into palms.

“No, just cautionary advice.”

Kyungsoo wants to punch his blank face so bad right now. “Then stop the car. I’m getting out of here.”

Sehun smirks. “You don’t have your passport, like you mentioned. No money, either. What are you going to do?”

“I can call the Korean Embassy and explain my situation. I’m sure they can work something out and hopefully put you in jail.”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere and you don’t have a phone.”

He’s right but Kyungsoo doesn’t care at this point. He can feel hysteria bubbling up in his chest, making his hands shake. He starts wildly looking around the car, searching for something, he’s not sure what.

The glove compartment.

When he opens it, it’s empty, save for a black revolver. Kyungsoo doesn’t even hesitate as he takes it out, gripping it with both hands and pointing it at Sehun’s head. Sehun pays zero attention, as if Kyungsoo is not even there.

The highway is going parallel to the coast and Kyungsoo can see the white beach and the sparkling blue water slowly turning gold from the setting sun. His heart is beating a lot faster than regular and for a second he gets dizzy as he opens his mouth to say something. The air rushes out of his lungs and he feels a little faint. The weird feeling leaves as fast as it comes and Kyungsoo focuses on the gun in his shaking hands.

“You better let me out right now.”

Sehun finally looks over, and there’s not even a single twitch in his expression which just makes Kyungsoo angrier.

“You can’t shoot.”

“I can and I will if you don’t stop the car.”

He sighs, like this is just an unnecessary annoyance that he can’t even bother with.

“Stop. The. Car,” Kyungsoo says, gritting his teeth.

This time Sehun complies, slowing down to the side of the road. When the car fully stops, he opens the door and gets out, walking over to Kyungsoo’s side. He opens Kyungsoo’s door and pulls him out by the wrist that’s holding the gun. He pries it out of Kyungsoo’s fingers, even though the latter tries to hold on to it with all his strength.

“You’re coming with me whether you like it or not,” Sehun hisses in his ear and Kyungsoo can sense that he’s angry. Kyungsoo almost stops breathing for a moment because it’s so scary and he can feel his knees starting to wobble like jelly. “I’m not your babysitter so you better behave if you want to get back to Korea alive.”

Sehun unloads the revolver, taking the bullets out into his palm. Kyungsoo stands there, shivering despite it not being cold, completely at a loss.

A car passes them in the opposite lane and starts slowing down. It does a u-turn and stops by the side of the road. Kyungsoo watches as someone gets out of the driver’s seat and walks toward them.

“Is there a problem with the car?” the man asks as he comes closer.

He’s wearing bleached ripped jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt. His hair is a dark color and Kyungsoo squints a little because his face looks extremely familiar but he’s still a little too far away.

Sehun starts to turn toward him and then the familiarity clicks. Kyungsoo runs toward the approaching figure, stumbling a little.

“Kai,” he whispers breathlessly, grabbing the man by the shoulders.

Kai’s eyes widen as he stares down at the terrified boy. “K-Kyungsoo? What?” His eyes start filling up with fear. “What in the world are you doing here?”

Sehun reaches them by then and the corner of his lips turn up in a smirk.

“Oh, look, it’s good we found you like this. Or coming to Port Elizabeth would have been a waste.”

“Sehun. Why are you with Kyungsoo?” Kai (Jongin?) takes Kyungsoo’s hand and pushes his boyfriend a little behind him.

Sehun shrugs. “He was the only lead we had.”

“Why the hell did you drag him along into this?”

Sehun spins the revolver in his hand. “Shouldn’t you be worried about yourself more right now?”

“I already told you I’m not negotiating.”

Kyungsoo looks up at Kai’s (or Jongin’s) face and he’s never seen him this serious before. He squeezes Jongin’s hand lightly as Sehun takes another step forward.

“You can’t just leave like that. They won’t ever let you leave.”

“Yi Fan left. Lu Han left. Why can’t they let me leave, too?” Jongin asks, voice rising in volume.

“Do you want to be in the same boat as them? They have people trained on them every second of the day and one wrong move, they’re dead. But you, they’ll kill you the moment they’ll find you.”

“W-what?” Kyungsoo speaks up. “What are you talking about? I thought you just needed the stuff in the paper bag or whatever. You said you wouldn’t kill him.”

Sehun looks at Kyungsoo, those same dead eyes not betraying a drip of emotion. “Yeah, we need the stuff in the paper bag. But if he refuses to give it up and come back, then we have no choice, do we?”

“Then you lied to me…” Why is he even surprised?

“Of course. Your own boyfriend lied to you the whole time you were dating.” Jongin tenses up beside Kyungsoo at the words and Sehun continues, “Come on, Jongin, you just have to come with me.”

“J-Jongin?” He looks at Kyungsoo and it’s so weird to call him that. Kyungsoo tugs at his arm. “Let’s go. We need to get out of here.”

Before Jongin can reply, Sehun’s revolver is already pointing at his head. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Kyungsoo’s breath catches in his throat but then he’s relieved. “You just took all the bullets out of that,” he says and Jongin pulls him to run to his car.

Everything is like a stop motion picture at this point. Jongin and Kyungsoo reach Jongin’s car. His hand reaches to the door handle and grabs it. The sound of a gunshot resonates and Kyungsoo’s right ear goes deaf with a ringing sound. The world is still.

Jongin slumps onto his car like putty, a quiet whimper leaving his lips.

Sehun’s bored voice cuts the air like a sharp knife. “I forgot about the last bullet. Oops.”

After that, everything is quiet and Kyungsoo is left standing there. None of it feels real. The blood seeping through Jongin’s shirt as he slides down to the ground. The smoking gun still in Sehun’s hand. Kyungsoo’s own shallow breathing. The beautiful orange and purple sunset over the darkening waves. The empty freeway stretching into the horizon. Jongin’s hand is still holding Kyungsoo’s and he tugs on it, tearing Kyungsoo out of his daze. Kyungsoo fall down to his knees, cradling Jongin’s face in his hands.

“I’m sorry…” Jongin whispers and Kyungsoo can barely hear it. “I was going to tell you after I took care of everythi… ng. I still… love you, okay?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t even notice the tears streaming down his cheeks. “No, no it’s okay. We can get you to the nearest hospital and they’ll fix you. I can drive you there, just hold on.”

The blood on Jongin’s shirt is now staining the ground below him and a part of his jeans. He tries to smile and it looks terrible.

“No… just stay here.”

His eyes flicker closed and he seems to have stopped breathing. Kyungsoo stops, too, because he doesn’t want to be breathing when Jongin isn’t. He doesn’t get very far because his lungs are burning and he gives in.

Somebody gently pulls Kyungsoo up and through his tear-blurred vision he sees Sehun’s face.

“Let’s go to the airport, Joonmyun’s jet will take you home.”

Kyungsoo pushes him away. “Don’t you dare touch me!” he screams. “You said-- you _promised_ you weren’t going to kill him, you--! Why the fuck did I even believe you?!”

Words fail Kyungsoo and the rest is ugly and muddy and desperate and he wants nothing more than for everything to end.

 

■[9]Stop.

When you press "Stop" on a remote control to the DVD player, everything on the screen stills and goes black. It erases all the progress you've made with the movie and takes you back to the menu screen.

And when you're back at the beginning, there is still hope that maybe some things will turn out different when the movie begins again. It's nearly impossible, but there's still that one minuscule chance.

And maybe, this time, because you already know what's going to happen, you can skip the parts you don't like and go back to the parts you want to re-watch over and over again.

 

•[10]Start.

Kyungsoo slides his legs under the blankets and reaches over to turn off the lights. It’s winter and the rain drips consistently against the window glass. Inside it’s warm and cozy and Kyungsoo snuggles into the fuzzy duvet. The faint glow of the moon reaches its icy fingers through the windows. He closes his eyes and almost instantly drifts off into sleep.

 

I◄[11]Rewind 1 Year.

The morning sunshine filters through the blinds and Kyungsoo doesn’t really want to get up. But of course he has to, because he’s a responsible adult with a job and he has things to do. Deciding to indulge himself a little more, he closes his eyes. It’s just for five more minutes, he tells himself. He snuggles closer to the body next to him on the bed, draping his arm over the man’s waist and nuzzling into the juncture between his neck and shoulder. Kai’s body shifts, and his leg goes over both of Kyungsoo’s.

“Turn off the sun,” he mumbles into Kyungsoo’s hair. “It’s getting into my eyes.”

Kyungsoo chuckles into his shirt, voice still raspy with sleep. “We need to get up soon.”

“But it’s Saturday.” Kai’s words lightly shift Kyungsoo’s bangs. “We can just sleep in.”

“It’s Friday, Kai,” Kyungsoo says as his lips spread in a smile while his eyes stay closed. “We have work.”

Kai freezes and then suddenly leans over to reach for his phone on the bedside table.

“Ew. I thought it was Saturday,” he grumbles and leans back, looking disgruntled.

Kyungsoo’s vision is a bit blurry from sleep but he looks up at his boyfriend, still smiling. Kyungsoo could never not smile when he looks at Kai. Even when they fight, Kyungsoo always ends up laughing and hugging Kai.

His hair is a big dark mess on his head and his eyes are slits, afraid to take so much light in after the dark of sleep. He looks the best like this.

Kai leans in, leaving just a few inches between their lips, and Kyungsoo’s breath still hitches. “Why are you looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?” he whispers.

“You have handsome on your face.” Kyungsoo says with a laugh as he pushes Kai’s cheek away. “Now go brush your teeth so I can kiss you.”

Kai pecks Kyungsoo on the cheek and drops back on the pillows, complaining about lack of sleep and how only boring people brush their teeth. Kyungsoo calls him disgusting and kisses him anyway.

 

I◄[12]Rewind 1 Year.

Kyungsoo opens the door and stares, dumbstruck, at the scene before him. It’s Kai, hair damp from the rain and clinging to his forehead. He’s holding a fluffy dark orange puppy under his trenchcoat. They look almost identical.

“Happy early birthday!” Kai bursts with a sunshine smile. “Can I come in?”

Kyungsoo lets him in and follows behind, self-consciously trying to fix his hair and adjust his shirt, as they walk to the kitchen. “My birthday is like three weeks away.”

“I know.” He takes out a ziplock bag with what looks like dog food out of his pocket and pours some of it into a small pile on the floor. “That’s why I said ‘early.’”

Kai puts the puppy down next to the dog food and makes baby noises at it.

“Kai, do you even know how much responsibility a puppy is?” Kyungsoo asks, crossing his arms and still trying to process what just happened.

Kai looks up with puppy eyes. “I’ll help you raise it, I promise.”

Kyungsoo squats down next to him and lets the puppy sniff his fingers. “Where did you get it?”

Despite the shock of the situation, Kyungsoo can’t help but feel excited. He’d always secretly wanted a puppy but for some reason he never allowed himself the luxury.

“He was left in a cardboard box by the supermarket with a sign that said ‘take me home.’ So I took him home.”

Kyungsoo looks over at him curiously. “This is not your house.”

Kai scratches behind the puppy’s ears as it eats its food cautiously. “My condo doesn’t allow pets. And you’d make a great dog mom. This could be our child.”

Kyungsoo’s laugh startles the puppy and it barks in its squeaky voice. Kyungsoo’s smile is so wide it makes his lips hurt.

“Did you name it yet?”

“Monggu,” Kai declares proudly.

The puppy stops eating at this point and pads over to sniff Kyungsoo’s toes. Kyungsoo buries his fingers in its curly orange fur. It’s really soft.

Kai grins and bends down to be eye-level with the puppy. “Do you like your new name, Monggu?” Monggu walks over and sniffs his nose. Kai chuckles and rubs the puppy’s back. “I guess you do.”

“I still can’t believe you got me a puppy,” Kyungsoo says as they get up.

“Well, I got my favorite person my favorite animal,” Kai says with a wink.

Kyungsoo might be blushing at the moment but he ignores it. Kai envelops him in a tight hug and at the moment Kyungsoo wants this to last forever.

“This is still a very early birthday present,” he mumbles into Kai’s sweater.

“Okay, then it’s a present because I love you,” Kai says into his hair and Kyungsoo freezes.

“You do?” he whispers as he looks up, all of a sudden aware of how unattractive he looks at the moment and how messy his living room is. Kyungsoo didn’t even wash his face yet and these kinds of moments should happen when you’re at a fancy restaurant wearing the best clothes or when you’re in the middle of a really hot makeout session followed by a huge bouquet of flowers.

“I do,” Kai whispers back and cups Kyungsoo’s cheek, leaning in until their lips touch. It’s the most gentle kiss Kai’s ever given him, like Kyungsoo is the most precious thing in the universe. It almost makes him want to cry. If Kyungsoo had to list his happiest moments in life, there wouldn’t be too many and this would be somewhere at the very top.

Kyungsoo laughs into the kiss as he feels Monggu tugging at his sock. “I love you, too.”

 

I◄[13]Rewind 1 Year.

Kyungsoo rushes out of his apartment building, fixing his bangs and pulling his coat closer. When he gets to the side of the road to wait for the cab, it suddenly hits him that he forgot his umbrella. He glances at the dark gray sky above. It will definitely rain very soon, but he can’t risk missing his cab to go get an umbrella.

The first drop hits his cheek and Kyungsoo resigns to going to his dream job interview with wet hair.

Or maybe not, because a cab pulls up with screeching tires and Kyungsoo rushes inside to get away from the rain. It peels away from the curb before Kyungsoo fully closes the door and when he’s about to say his destination, his eyes meet the cabbie’s through the rearview mirror. Dark, almost feline-like eyes sparkling with something that makes his throat dry.

And then, Kyungsoo passes out.

 

►[14]Play_New Scene 1.

Kyungsoo wakes up slowly, a ray of sunset blinding him for a second. He’s in the backseat of a cab and his head is throbbing. Carefully, he gets up to a sitting position and looks out the window. Apparently, the cab is parked on top of a hill overlooking the city, a brilliant sunset settling over the buildings, painting everything a bright orange. It’s a breathtaking view and it stuns Kyungsoo for just a few seconds. But then he scrambles out of the car, completely disoriented.

A man is leaning against the trunk of the car, his profile turned to the view, bathed in a soft dark yellow of the sun. He turns at the sound to face Kyungsoo, pinning him in place with those same cat-like eyes. Kyungsoo had seen them somewhere before.

“What’s going on?” Kyungsoo asks and clears his throat. “Who are you and what am I doing here?”

It's evening already and Kyungsoo knows he missed his interview. The last thing he remembers is getting into the cab. Everything in his brain is muddled and blurry, like he woke up from a long sleep.

The man’s eyebrows scrunch in a mixture of concern and relief as he takes a step closer and Kyungsoo takes a step back.

“You’re awake,” the man says and tries for a tentative smile. “When you got into the cab, you just passed out. I didn’t know what to do and your phone was off so I couldn’t call anyone you know and when I tried to wake you up, you wouldn’t even stir. There was no reason to take you to the hospital because you were just sleeping, I thought it was stress or something.” He seems to notice he’s rambling so he takes a deep breath and continues. “But anyway, I didn’t know what else to do, so I just took you here and waited for you to wake up.”

Kyungsoo rubs his eyes with the back of his hand, becoming even more confused. This guy doesn’t seem like a threat, with all the nervous concerned energy coming off him. The real concern is why Kyungsoo just randomly passed out like that.

“Um, I can take you back home?” the man asks. “Or wherever else you need to be. Free of charge?”

The light hits him at an angle that pierces through his dark irises, making them glow. He’s just as breathtaking as the sunset.

“I’d appreciate that,” Kyungsoo says faintly, and hides his shaking hands behind his back.

Kyungsoo sits shotgun this time, because he’s scared to be alone for some reason. The cabbie puts the gear in drive and peels off the observation curb. They wind around the mountain road in silence for a bit, and Kyungsoo alternates between trying to will his hands to stop shaking and peeking glances at the cabbie.

He looks pretty young, around Kyungsoo’s age. Without the glaring sunset, Kyungsoo notices his hair is a dark charcoal black, like the sky at night. His long fingers are lightly gripping the wheel, veins in a pretty mint dance across the back of his hands. There are dark bags under his eyes, like he hasn’t slept in days.

The cabbie catches Kyungsoo mid-peek and shoots him another uneasy smile.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks, glancing at Kyungsoo’s shaking hands. “You don’t need to go to the hospital or anything?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. Although, maybe he should get checked up, he thinks. He’d never passed out like this before.

“You’re being so nice,” Kyungsoo says.

The mysterious man shrugs. “You just knocked out a few seconds after you got into the cab. It freaked me out.”

After another minute of silence, Kyungsoo speaks up again, just to make conversation. “What’s your name?”

He glances over at Kyungsoo with another small smile. “Huang Zi Tao. But most people just call me Tao.”

“I’m Do Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo smiles down at his hands. “It’s nice to meet you, Zi Tao-ssi.”

There is something about people who are kind to strangers that makes Kyungsoo feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It makes him believe that maybe the world is not such a bad place after all.

“So where do I take you, Kyungsoo-ssi?” Tao asks.

Kyungsoo gives him his address and he looks over in surprise. “No way! I actually just moved into that building last week,” he says with an unbelieving laugh.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times. Coincidences like this only happen in movies. But this whole day felt like a movie, so he mirrors Tao’s surprise.

“That’s so weird! So… we’re neighbors?”

“I guess so.”

They pull up next to Kyungsoo’s apartment building about thirty minutes later and Tao parks in the reserved resident garage.

“If you’re my neighbor, does that mean I get free cab rides?” Kyungsoo asks jokingly.

His hands had stopped shaking and the banter between them has become comfortable at this point. Kyungsoo gets out of the car and so does Tao.

"That depends." Tao laughs. “If you pay me in food instead.”

They enter the lobby and head for the elevators. Tao presses floor six and Kyungsoo presses five.

“I always make too much food anyway,” Kyungsoo says. “So that wouldn’t be a problem.”

When Kyungsoo gets to his apartment, after saying goodbye to Tao and promising to be careful and not pass out again, he collapses on his couch face first.

His answering machine is blinking with voicemails and Kyungsoo already knows one of them is from _K! Magazine_ , telling him that because he didn’t show up to the interview without a notice, they’re not taking him.

Kyungsoo pushes down the deep feeling of disappointment and failure and reaches over to press play.

“This message is for Do Kyungsoo. We’re sorry to inform you that because you’ve failed to show up to your appointed interview without a proper notice or explanation, you have been taken off of our potential employees list. Thank you and have a good day.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t let himself cry and instead drags his feet to the kitchen as the next message begins to play.

“Hey, Kyungsoo, this is Seokjin! Gosh, I haven’t talked to you in forever, we need to catch up sometime. Anyway, the reason I was calling. I’m opening my restaurant next week and my second chef just quit on me out of nowhere. So this is basically a job offer and maybe a plea for help haha. But if you can’t, I totally understand. Still give me a call either way, we haven’t really talked since college. I gotta go now, bye!”

 

• [15]Start.

Kyungsoo slides his legs under the blankets and reaches over to turn off the lights. It’s winter and the rain drips consistently against the window glass. Inside it’s warm and cozy and Kyungsoo snuggles into the fuzzy duvet next to the already sleeping Tao. The faint glow of the moon reaches its icy fingers through the windows. He closes his eyes and almost instantly drifts off into sleep.

Kyungsoo wakes up in the middle of the night, his breathing heavy and his palms sweaty. Tao shifts next to him and opens his eyes. Kyungsoo can see them glittering in the dark, reflecting the moon.

“Hyung?” Tao whispers, joining him in sitting up.

Kyungsoo just put his face into his hands, the heels of his palms digging into his eyes, making technicolor fireworks explode. He’d been having these dreams for the past few years, small pieces of one big dream. They aren’t exactly nightmares, not really, just pieces of his daily life. But in these dreams he works for _K! Magazine_ instead of his Seokjin's restaurant and he never meets Tao. Instead, he’s dating someone else, happy with someone else. Kyungsoo had never told Tao about it because it makes him feel guilty. These dreams are so insistent even when he knows they’re just dreams. They’re not real, even though they feel like they are.

But this time, tonight’s dream, it really felt like a nightmare. It was all a blur but Tao was there and someone else and then someone got shot. It felt like heartbreak and horror and sadness and the deepest anguish Kyungsoo had ever felt in his life.

He doesn’t remember any details now that he woke up but that feeling of sadness and anger still lingers and Kyungsoo doesn’t know what to do with it.

He can feel Tao rubbing comforting circles on his back until his breathing turns back to normal. Kyungsoo leans into his chest, listening for the stability of Tao’s heartbeat. His new engagement ring catches on the wool blanket and Kyungsoo leaves his hand there, watching as the moon glints off the white metal.

“Is it the dream?” Tao asks into his hair.

Kyungsoo furrows his brows. “What do you mean?”

“The one where Jongin dies?”

Kyungsoo scrambles away to look at his boyfriend. His eyes have adjusted to the darkness and Kyungsoo can make out sharp features as his heartbeat catches in his throat.

“What?” his voice is barely above a whisper. “How-- What do you mean?”

Tao leans closer. “You can’t freak out until you listen to everything, okay?”

Kyungsoo leans back. “Tao, what are you talking about?”

“Do you remember when we first met? In the cab?” Kyungsoo nods and Tao continues. “We’ve met before that, but you just don’t remember. That time, you didn’t get into my cab, you waited for your cab to come for a lot longer and it started to rain really hard. That’s when you met Jongin and he gave you his umbrella and you got to your interview on time and you didn’t pass out.” As he talked, a strong sense of deja vu pushed at Kyungsoo’s chest with every sentence. “You got the job at _K!_ and you and Jongin started dating. Two years later and you meet Sehun and come along with him to look for Jongin because he gets involved with… some things. You meet me, too, and then Sehun shoots Jongin in the chest and he dies.”

“Tao, what is going on?” Kyungsoo asks, starting to get scared. "What are you talking about?"

Tao continues, ignoring the wavering desperation and fear in Kyungsoo’s voice. “And then I rewind everything back, year by year, until I reach the moment just before you meet Jongin for the first time. And that’s when we meet instead.”

“What do you mean, _rewind everything back_?” What Tao is saying sounds like absolute nonsense, except he just described three years worth of scattered dreams in much better detail than Kyungsoo remembers them.

“We’ve met before. Every two hundred and seventy five years we meet again. And this is your last life, Kyungsoo.” Tao’s voice sounds muted, like he’s fading.

“Tao, what are you talking about?” Kyungsoo clutches at Tao’s arm because he sounds crazy but something about his words catches onto something deep and buried in Kyungsoo’s unconscious.

Tao bows his head to stare straight into Kyungsoo’s eyes, as if trying to relay how important his words are. “I don’t have a name, and I’ve been around since the pyramids were built. It’s my job to keep time. I’ve lived through centuries and by then I’d realized that some people have nine lives. When I first met you, I hoped that you did, too. And you did. But every time, we weren’t able to stay together.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t want to believe him, mostly because it sounds so outrageous, like he’s weaving some tragic fairytale or a plot of some cheesy fantasy movie. But his mind spins faster with every sentence Tao utters and it’s like a void has opened up before him. His thoughts don’t have anything to hold onto so he falls, the sinking feeling in his stomach dropping.

“This is your ninth life, and I wanted to spend it with you before you turn into stardust forever, even if it means I have to use up all my power and turn into stardust with you.”

“What…?”

It’s a feeling so much bigger than the universe. It overwhelms Kyungsoo because, even if it’s not logical or possible, it makes perfect sense somewhere in the depths of his mind. This subtle familiarity that was always there, from the moment Kyungsoo saw his eyes in the rearview mirror. This feeling that they’d already known each other for a long time.

“This doesn’t make sense, I don’t remember anything,” Kyungsoo says, staring into the abyss of Tao’s eyes. “I don’t remember all the past lives you’re talking about.”

“I know. You’re not supposed to.” The next words are a whisper, “If you do, you’ll disappear.”

Then intenseness of his gaze is making Kyungsoo dizzy and he fists the sheets in his hands. Tao’s arms wind around his frame and they both lean back into the pillows. Something in Kyungsoo shakes until he can feel the pressure of tears behind his eyes. Like the rug has been wrenched from under his feet, like he just hit his shin against the corner of a wall, a pain that wrings you from the inside out.

And then, a single flash, of those same eyes, staring Kyungsoo down, and he knows they’re not even from this century, the last millennium, and he knows he’d seen them before.

“Kyungsoo,” Tao breathes against his ear. “Don’t remember it. Just stay here.”

Kyungsoo shuts his eyes and bites his lip until he feels like he’ll draw blood. “I’m sorry.”

Because memories start flooding his mind, memories of different lifetimes, of different centuries.

“I love you here, now.” Tao’s breathing picks up, and Kyungsoo can hear his heart rattling. “You can’t remember all the other times.”

Kyungsoo whimpers, from the pain or from the sudden flashes of every time he died. Their tears mix into the pillows and Kyungsoo doesn’t want to leave yet, not like this.

“I shouldn’t have told you this, fuck,” Tao curses. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

 

⏏️[16]Eject Disk

Tao kisses Kyungsoo, who is quite literally seeing stars. They’re disintegrating. Dissipating into the sky that was their home in the first place. Everything is the color of Tao’s hair. Soft charcoal. Raven feathers. The color of the midnight sky. The color of the screen after the credits stop rolling and the DVD slides out of the player.

 

=[17]Outtakes

The first time we met, it was 200 BC, the Han Dynasty in China. You were a nobleman’s son, and when I picked up the hairpin that fell out of your hair, you thanked me. I fell in love with the sound of your voice, like the rush of a brook on a spring morning.

The first time I cried was from uselessness as they burnt your house to the ground, with you and your family inside, ugly red “treason” printed on the gates.

* * *

I couldn’t believe it when I saw you picking out vegetables in the market nearly three centuries later on a different continent. I followed you to the hotel you ran and asked for a room. I became your regular guest, and fell in love with the brightness of your eyes.

I couldn’t believe my eyes as I watched the dust settle across the bay. By now you were a mummy of volcanic rock, the insides of Vesuvius painting you black and dead.

* * *

At one point, two hundred and seventy five years later, I became fascinated with medicine. You came to me, a soldier seeking healing and somehow I managed to make your migraines go away. It was the only time I watched you grow old while I stayed of the same appearance, and you look the best with wrinkles and gray hair because you stayed alive for a long time.

* * *

It had been almost three hundred years since then, and the world was on the edge of switching empires. All the stories of a certain Arabic princess turned me into a warrior because I knew somehow it was you.

It had been a long war between our countries but when a fellow soldier killed you during the kidnapping process, I regretted that I wasn’t given enough time to fall in love with you again.

* * *

It had been a long time, and maybe I was too used to being a warrior, because this time I was still protecting a country I wasn’t born in and a king who I didn’t support. You were a sailor on the raiding Viking ship, and I instantly knew it was you.

By then I’d memorized the pattern of your shaking hands when everyone found out you weren’t a boy, you were a woman in love with the sea and that meant death and I couldn’t save you. Again.

* * *

I was on the other side of the world by then and I saw you drowning in the river just as you’d properly learned how to walk. I could save you this time, and I watched you grow up into the person I’d learned to admire for your mind.

You later saved me, too, during the new Minamoto reign, and paid for it by starving in the resulting famine.

* * *

When there were thousands of years in my mind and thousands of lives I’d watched end, I wanted to isolate myself and pretend I was alone. But you found my house in the forest and your laugh was the tinkling of the summer breeze through the flowering meadow. You gave me the only company I needed.

I made it my topmost priority to protect you, but eventually the Mongols reached your village, too, and I was alone again. I hated the solitude then.

* * *

I sailed the seas because I knew the time had come to meet you again. I found you on the islands, but I wasn’t the only one fascinated by the bow of your lips.

I kidnapped you away from them, but this time, you’d rather sleep on the bottom of the ocean than run around with a pirate who looted your home country.

* * *

I was a pirate again, but in a much more modern sense. I saw your picture on the screen of the laptop and I knew it was the last time. I didn’t care if I had to use every fiber of my being to erase particles of time because I’d rather be with you for an hour then spend another eternity staring at your constellation and not being able to touch the silk of your skin.

* * *

And now we both spin through the never ending vacuum of space, just small sparkling pieces of dust, particles that exploded from the same star.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> dw i have no clue what just happened either  
> but like i actually have some half-baked explanations for a lot of the confusing stuff so hmu in the comments if u wanna know
> 
>  
> 
> [time to share - gemini](https://youtu.be/AHWUez2Tdpk)


End file.
